Benjamin Wachs: Sandusky is just one example of no checks, no balances

Monday

Jun 25, 2012 at 12:01 AMJun 25, 2012 at 6:58 AM

Jerry Sandusky was the guy who everybody trusted. Many looked up to him. He was so obviously a good man that nobody needed to be looking over his shoulder, making sure he wasn’t doing something wrong.

Benjamin Wachs

Jerry Sandusky was the guy who everybody trusted.

Many looked up to him. He was so obviously a good man that nobody needed to be looking over his shoulder, making sure he wasn’t doing something wrong.

And even if he might be, he was important. He was part of an institution — a winning institution. Many important and smart people decided that, when Sandusky was accused of terrible things, you had to look at the big picture. Because that’s what counts, right?

This is how institutional corruption happens in even well-meaning institutions. An assumption is made that a “good person” could never be a monster, so we don’t have to check up on what he’s doing … followed by willingness to turn away from what’s right because the stakes are so high.

This is how Jerry Sandusky happened. This is how bishops help pedophile priests stay out of jail. This is how Wall Street traders nearly toppled the world’s economy … because we assume that nobody needs to look over their shoulders. We assume that if left to their own devices, they’ll do the right thing.

This is a profoundly un-American attitude. It’s how kings and dictators govern. The Founding Fathers made America free by saying that we live in a nation governed by laws, not men. A system of checks and balances, enshrined in law, ensures that no one amasses enough power to hold themselves beyond review — no matter how good they may seem to be.

Jerry Sandusky was the guy everybody trusted, and he was beyond review, so terrible things happened.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, America turned away from checks and balances, giving the president the power to do whatever he wanted, without review. There have been consequences.

Today, we know that in the name of the “war on terror,” the executive branch of the United States government has a list of people, including American citizens, who the government can kill without further review. Without judicial review. Without any appeals process at all. There is no check, there is no balance.

But that’s OK, we can trust the president. He’s a good man, right?

This was an inevitable development. Since Sept. 11, the executive branch has claimed the power to imprison anyone it deems a terrorist … for any reason … without trial. Without review. Without checks or balances. And we’ve all gone along with it. Because we know the government would never abuse its power.

People who demand the government stop regulating business have gladly supported the government’s power to make American citizens disappear. People who demand the government keep its laws off of their bodies have stood by silently while the government has assumed the right to spy on their phone calls, emails and text messages — whether it has reason to suspect you of a crime or not.

The entire security apparatus meant to keep us safe from the terrorists operates beyond review, beyond the law, beyond checks and balances. It amounts to a coup of democracy.

How many Jerry Sanduskys do you think it employs?

Don’t worry, I’m sure you can trust them.

And the president … the last one, this one, the next one, the one after that … I’m sure he’d never do anything wrong.

Right?

Right now, America is looking at Penn State and asking “How could they have let this happen?” I fear that years from now, when the kill lists are bigger and the secret prisons are overcrowded and all of us are spied on and there is no one to appeal to because there are no checks and there are no balances, we will be asking ourselves the same thing.

We know today that terrible things are being done by our government in our name, just as Penn State officials knew Jerry Sandusky was molesting kids. We are deciding to turn away.

Benjamin Wachs writes for Messenger Post Media in New York, and is the editor of Fiction365.com. Email him at Benjamin@Fiction365.com.

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